PlayStation Now Open Beta – Our Journey Begins

As we announced back at CES, PlayStation Now (PS Now) is the first-ever game streaming service available on a game console, where you can quickly access a rich and expanding library of PlayStation 3 (PS3) games from our cloud servers. Since January, PS Now has been in Private Beta for select gamers across the country, and I’m happy to announce that the Open Beta will be available to all PlayStation 4 (PS4) owners in the U.S. and Canada starting tomorrow.

As part of this Open Beta, PS4 users will see PS Now titles fully integrated into PlayStation Store, available to be streamed for various rental durations. Check out the video walkthrough of how it all works:

During the PS Now Open Beta, PS4 users will see a diverse library of more than 100 titles to rent, with more added regularly. PS Now will offer a variety of rental periods depending on the game, including 7-days, 30-days or 90-days, as well as a short 4-hour duration, so players can sample the experience first.

With a strong and stable broadband connection, visual and gameplay quality will be much like what you’re used to with other PS3 games. PS Now will also feature cloud game saves, as well as support for other popular network features such as Trophies, friend lists and leaderboards. You can also play seamlessly online with other people on PS Now, or even players who have the downloadable or disc based version of the game. As you know, the PS3 catalog of games is massive and incredibly diverse, and we’re thrilled to make these epic experiences available to PS4 first, followed by our other PlayStation platforms in the coming months.

Since we’re still in Beta, and in the very early days of PS Now, we plan to continue to collect feedback during this Open Beta phase to make further refinements to the service, so please provide us feedback once you’ve experienced the service.

We want to thank those that have been participating in the PS Now Private Beta for their time, dedication and valuable feedback, which have helped us continue to shape the service.

You will immediately see a clear breakdown of what’s included with game rentals, so it’s easier to tell what content you’re getting with your rental, especially since several games offered through PS Now include DLC that increase the value of the offering. Also, in a few weeks, you will start seeing reduced pricing on some 4-hour rentals which will appear at $1.99.

In addition, we’ve heard you loud and clear for an update on a PS Now subscription option and want to reassure you that we are working on it. We think PS Now represents the next step toward the future of gaming and we’re excited to have the PlayStation Nation come along with us on the beginning of this journey.

Let’s say that a 4-hour rental for a particular game is priced at $2.99, and a 30-day rental of the same game is $7.99. Suppose I choose the 4-hour rental at $2.99. I start playing, and within a few minutes, I get hooked. I feel that 4 hours isn’t enough time to fully enjoy the game, so I immediately decide that I want to spring for 30 days. Does the PS Now system enable me to “extend” a rental in progress and pay just $5.00 more, or would I be required to pay the full $7.99?

If the system allows rentals to be extended by paying just the difference, then this could encourage users who are uncertain about the long-term prospects a game to try a lower-priced quick rental as a starting point. By comparison, if discounted extensions are not allowed, then those users might choose to skip out and not bother trying the game at all.

Look at Redbox and local rental places. That’s the market you want to draw people away from if you want Playstation Now to suceed. Most ma and pa rental places charge $1-2 dollars a day for a new release game rental with no late fee’s and pay additional when you bring it back. This 4 hours for $1.99-2.99 is totally overpriced and has got to go. Then some of those 2+ years old games can be found low as $4.99 used at any local Gamestop or cheaper from digital sales. Now you are basically encouraging Gamestop to raise the prices of their older games based on demand. Playstation Now has to revamp the prices. I could see a 1 day rental for $0.99-1.99, 3.99-4.99 for 15 days, and $7.99-$9.99 for 30 days.

I realize there are probably licensing issues keeping Sony from implementing this, but it would be great if once this is out of beta, any games purchased digitally via the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 were also available freely for streaming. There are a lot of PS3 games I would love to revisit, but I just despise having to sit in front of a television to play them when the Vita is a much better experience.

I feel you are doing PS Now all wrong. Here is how I would do it. As of today, if you buy or rent a movie from the PS Store, you can either stream it to view it or download it to view it. You are given that options. And that is what PS Now should be. All past, current, and future games should be allowed to either download to play or stream to play. So, people, like my who brought 66 digital games, won’t need to re-purchase my games on PS4 or PS TV to stream because I already brought them digitally. PS Now should just be another way to use the content you own. In your version of PS Now, there is no ownership. Also, you get selected titles. Also this is a new service with additional cost. With my idea, PS Now can be a benefit of PS+….you can either download your game to that console or stream it from any console. Just make PS Now a streaming service for digital games you already purchase. And when people buy new digital games, they can either stream it or download it. This will allow everyone who brought tons of games digitally on their PS3 have access to all of them on their PS4.

Guys, you’re in competition with Redbox and Gamefly… you seriously HAVE to fix your pricing to be what you guys probably consider to be dirt cheap to be even remotely competitive. $2 for 4 hours is just… bad. The entire pricing model is just bad. Now if you setup a subscription service where it’s like $30 a month with unlimited game access… now you’ve hit a competitive price point.

A few questions.
1. What if we already have a game on psn. Will we have to pay for it again?
2. What about the free games we got from PS+?
3. When does beta start? midnight (EST) or a random time.
4. What about our disc base games? can whe put them in the ps4 and play them for free from PlaystationNow? (if thats even possible)

A four hour rental for 3 dollars? You’re having a laugh. There’s not even a point to rent a game that long. 4 hours would be to test the game out and I’m not going to pay anything to try out a game (especially not 3 dollars). Let people try it for free for 30 minutes and have a 2-3 rental for 3 dollars. 3 dollars for 4 hours is just pointless.

Also was hoping this service would add trophies to ps2 and ps1 classics but I was disappointed when I heard that isn’t happening. It’s good if you don’t care about your game collection but I do so I don’t think I’ll use it much. Hopefully it doesn’t hurt physical too much.

I love you guys but I have to agree with lots of folks here that PlayStation now needs a subscription model or be tied in a higher PlayStation plus subscription. I don’t see why anyone would want to rent a game if the prices are even slightly to high. Again I love everything you all have done so far from PS plus to the vita and ps4, but renting a game for a limited amount of play time just does not feel right to me. Hopefully you will have the subscription model up soon, I am sure a ton of people, myself included would sign up right away.

@63
PSNow should be what Gaikai was, a rental service with monthly fee and unlimited access. IT would make much more sense and would not be insulting for the people that purchased games already since you could have global access to the whole library.

People saying Redbox are dumb… How does renting from Redbox let you play PS3 games on PS4? Riiiight… How about playing them on Vita? Smart TVs? Other stuff in the future? And it underestimates easy of use and laziness.

There’s a clear issue with naysayers not actually grasping the concept of PS Now. It’s not complicated to understand.

And people that say we should have b/c instead are just as bad. Even if the PS4 could emulate the cell, which it can’t, that wouldn’t provide any of the benefits Noe provides

The entitlement needs to end too. You shouldn’t get to stream stuff free just because you bought it on PSN. Streaming is an expensive model for gaming. You bought PSN games and you got them.

And FFS people, LEARN TO READ. How many people are going to say it needs a subscription? THEYRE DOING ONE. Ugh. It says in the video, it says in the article AND it said so in an article back in January too.

@#68
A PS1 and PS2 emulator would be awesome. Especially the PS2 since there is still some games that haven’t been remastered. And a PS3 classics section would be awesome too. It would be cool if purchases could transfer between systems so the games that I bought digitally on PS3 can be downloaded on the PS4. That is the downside to digital games. They are stuck on one system except for Cross Buy games.
Or how about a PS3 Classics section where you can put your PS3 game in the PS4 and then download the classics version from the store. But you would still need the game to play the PS4 version similar to how the digital upgrade program was with COD Ghosts.

Thanks for the $1.99 trial price drop, save me the red box trips!
Also can’t wait about the subscriptions to rollout, this will be worth it
I need some people to play metal slug 2 with me, I just rent it. So far so smooth single player wise. I want to see how smooth it is online

When are you guys going to honor purchases for streaming on PS4/vita/etc. I already own most of the games on the PS Now Beta and it’s a little bit insulting that you try to charge me for games I already own. PS Now is an extension of the Playstation Network and Playstation Store and should be treated as such

You cover the PS4, but how about the PS3 ? What is the point of adding the service to it when it is the only console of the bunch that can play ALL the games proposed already, often for cheaper deal, and including the future PS1/PS2 titles.

Seriously, the membership scheme for 10-15$ a month is a way better idea. Sony already failed big time with their video store ( slow and overpriced )… People then used netflix.

As a former Gaikai user, i was extatic to get the same service with all Sony games….and on the vita… until they pulled out the rental per hour/game scheme. Worst case scenario, i rent it for 4hrs, start playing, internet cuts… i get it deep…

PSNow as a Netflix for gamers, or nothing

PS: they could have simply proposed a platinum version of PSPlus, including Music unlimited and PSNow unlimited

Jack, will PS NOW allow PS+ subscribers to play their titles for free on the system?

For example, say I put a title in my Download List after it was offered from the PS+ Instant Game Collection. So, it is associated with my PS+ ID. If that title is one of the ones on PS NOW, will I be able to stream/play it without being charged? Will there be cross saves as well?

@78 Gotcha… just read again the last line… So they are working on a suscription plan…which is the key to success.

A little advise from me: Couple it to PS+. PS+ is a steal, and could be the best ever service a console have ever seen ( and a major revenue for sony ) If it could be coupled with other services like Music unlimited, video unlimited ( a real one…not rental per movie ) and PSNow.

Something like this.
You could even come up with partnership with hulu and netflix and other rental service, with special discount. Turning PSplus into a program, like cable tv program, where gamers could choose services and pay through a single Monthly or Annual payment.

This would be a Killer way to make PS4+Vita the ultimate combo ever… Especially if packaged in a single 500$ box, with two machines and 1 year PSplus full access.

I think the prices aren’t too bad. They are comparable to what it costs me to rent from my video store. The big difference is I don’t have to go to the store and I can play on PS4 and eventually my Vita too. If someone thinks the used price is the way to go, you still have that option. The 4 hour option is odd, but based on how I play, if I rented for the night that is about all the time I would have anyway. Would be nice if they had a model that was 4 hr of game time so you could play for 2 hours, go eat dinner and come back and play another 2 hours.

“Those rumors are wrong,” he wrote. “Entitlements for PS3 games won’t carry over to PS Now.” As for the reason why Sony will not provide discounts, he explained, “Unfortunately, it just doesn’t make business sense for Sony to transfer entitlements to PS Now. Streaming games costs them money.”

1. Subscription service would be nice. You’ve already said you are working on it so that’s great. Given current pricing, I think i’m going to say multiple subscription levels will be necessary as a ‘All You Can Game’ would likely be very pricy. I’d be happy with something like unlimited 2, 5, and 10 games for 30 days at a time. Something like that.

2. Honestly i think a permanent unlock price for games i own digitally through PSN already is a must. Similar to want Nintendo does with Wii U virtual console. No more than $5 for sure. $2.99 for retail-type releases and $1.49 for digital type releases would be pretty much a no brainer for me.

3. If you can’t give us $0.99 for 4 hours, find a timeframe you can. Personally, i think 2 hours for $0.99 is better than $1.99 for 4 hours. There needs to be a $0.99 option!

4. Since the beta exists only on PS4 why are there so many PS3/PS4 titles on there already? I get it when it rolls out to more services but why now? Certainly don’t want to see more added until this rolls out to additional platforms.

5. Can’t tell from the video, but hope prices aren’t or don’t remain the same regardless of title. Renting an (originally) $60 release and renting an (originally) $9.99 release should not cost the same. Should probably have different time periods too, but thats a lesser concern.

6. Related to 5, games of varying ages should also have varying pricing. Renting GTA IV and renting GTA V should not be the same price.

7. Obviously keeping up with third-party sales would be challenging, but pricing should keep up with PSN sales and price changes. If a game is on sale on PSN for $5 for example, at very least the 4 hour price needs to temporarily drop to $0.99 for the same period and the 7 day price should drop to match the sale price for the duration of the sale (usually 7 days). Also the 30-day option should always be no higher than the current permanent price on PSN.